* God allows adversity in our lives so we can learn to hear Him and trust Him as our trainer.

* Think of the picture of a boxer.

* He’s got two responsibilities - train hard & fight hard.

* The better he trains the more he’s equipped to step into the ring and fight.

* In workout times he has to submit to the trainer’s teaching and coaching.

* When his boxer is ready, the trainer puts him in the ring against a person who wants to knock him out!!!!

* Imagine the boxer getting mad at the trainer for doing that! HA HA!

* The trainer knows the boxer can win if he’ll just listen to his voice and trust his training.

* God puts us in the ring so we can test the metal of our training and so we can learn to trust our trainer.

* If we win, we see for ourselves how amazing our trainer is.

* If we lose, we know we have more work to do in the gym.